Fisk Family Adoption

I know it’s inexcusable to have gone so long without updating the web site. August was perhaps the busiest month so far, though. Arina vacationed in Hilton Head with Mommy, Daddy, Nana, and Pop. She and Pop had perfected sandcastle building by the end of the trip.

August was the month of parties. Arina hosted Nat’s graduation party and Jordan’s birthday party. Nat and Jordan should have gotten all of the presents, of course, but whenever Mrs. Leppard is involved, Arina gets presents too. Arina was so thrilled to get her first real princess dress that she stripped in front of everyone in her hurry to try it on. 

Then, she turned three-years-old, and — appropriately enough — had three birthday celebrations (one in Charleston, one in Columbia, and one in McBee). We went to Charleston the week before her birthday, so that she and her Daddy could celebrate a joint birthday (Scott turned thirty-one on August 3rd). Marly helped make the cakes and did a fantastic job. Arina especially liked the sprinkles on hers. The following Wednesday, she celebrated her birthday with Aunts DC and Nat and Uncle Joel. Nat surprised us all with the most spectacular “tur-tle” cake that has ever been baked. Yes, that is blue jello water and candy fish. And, yes, it was yummy.

Another highlight of the Columbia birthday party was a pinata — Joel’s idea. We told Arina that there was candy inside the pinata and gave her a bat, and she knew exactly what to do.

Funny story of the month: Arina and I were walking on the USC campus, and I asked her to hold my hand before crossing the street. She said, “Hand, dirty, mine,” and she was right. It looked like she had rubbed her hand against the car tire. But, Star Wars geek that I am, I said — somewhat distractedly — “My hands are dirty too. What are you afraid of?” She looked up at me and said — quite simply — “dragons.”

What a busy month!  Since my last post, Arina had a zoo day with the Fisk family (MeMe, PaPa, Aunt Kelly, Marley, and Baby Parker), a weekend reunion at Myrtle Beach with her friends from Kazakhstan (Miss Kathy, Miss Jean, and Owen; Garrett, DeeDee, and Dawson), a Fourth of July get-together with her Columbia “aunties” (DC, Nat, and Ra Ra), and a fantastic “A” Day (short for Adoption Day) at Chuck E Cheese.

June 22nd at Myrtle Beach: We got a full morning of playing at the beach, before meeting up for lunch with Kathy, Jean, and Owen.  Arina wasn’t too sure about playing in the waves at first, but she adored playing in the sand, so we inched her closer and closer, under pretense of getting water for the sand castle.  Soon she was riding the waves like a pro and “pretend” swimming from Mommy to Daddy, and vice versa.  She also enjoyed the lazy river at our hotel.  She and Scott went down a waterslide, but Scott forgot to cover her eyes, so she refused to go again.  She’d say, “Water, eyes, no.”  We’re working on articles and prepositions.

Friday night, we met Jean, Kathy, Garrett, DeeDee, and the kids for seafood.  Look at how much they’ve grown!  Unbelievable.

The Fourth of July wasn’t the biggest hit with Arina, because the “BOOM, BOOM, BOOM” of the fireworks scared her.  We managed to get her to hold a sparkler, but that was as good as it got for the Fourth.  Nat made a fantastic dinner, though, and brought sidewalk chalk, which was a hit.

July 10th marked the year anniversary of our court date in Kazakhstan — when we officially became a family.  We celebrated by going to Chuck E Cheese, which Arina loved, and watching videos from our days at Malutka Baby House, which Arina loved more.  She would look at herself and say, “Baby Rina!  Teeny tiny!  Cute!”  So modest! 

Stay tuned for the next post: Arina’s 3rd birthday is August 19th, so I’ll post again sometime in late August! 

Two days late . . . but, believe it or not, next month will be the one-year anniversary of Arina’s Adoption Day, and, then, I’ll start updating yearly rather than monthly (except on special occasions, of course).  Don’t worry Nat, Jordan, and Ms. Leppard; I’ll send you personalized monthly updates via email.

This past month, Scott and I enjoyed our first weekend get-away together, sans child.  Arina spent the weekend with Nana and Pop, while Scott and I attended Brittany’s and Todd’s wedding in White Castle, Louisiana.  We felt like we were dating again and had a wonderful time.  I’ve included photos of our room; we stayed at Nottoway Plantation, a bed and breakfast, and splurged on the room with gorgeous antique furniture and a very modern, jacuzzi tub. 

As for Arina, she also enjoyed her first spend-the-night weekend with MeMa (who has become MeMe to Arina) and PaPa Fisk.  The weekend was packed full of summer fun: eating watermelon, playing in the backyard, and enjoying cousins Marley and Parker.

Featured photo #1: Arina lounging around with PaPa.

Featured photo #2: Marley teaches Arina how to tie a shoe.

This past Sunday, Scott, Arina, and I attended the Oliver Family Reunion, the event with which I began writing these posts a year ago.  At the last reunion, we explained the adoption process, which we had just started.  This year, we introduced Arina as one of the newest members of the family.  Full-circle, at last.

Next month should be exciting, not only because of Arina’s Adoption Day, but also because we have a Myrtle Beach get-together planned with the Whites and the Smiths, two families who were also adopting from Malutka last summer.

Well, I’m three days late writing the post for this month, but I had to wait until Mother’s Day, so that I could post Mother’s Day photos!  Arina wore her “Rella” dress today, for the second time since Easter, in celebration of our first Mother’s/Daughter’s Day.  She went shopping with Mom a couple of weeks ago for my present.  Mom let her pick out a necklace for me — a very fashionable pink necklace, I should add.  Then, when they were leaving to go, Arina insisted, “Two!”  So, I also got a purple necklace, which came with matching purple earrings, which I wore today.  That’s my girl! — although I was pressed to find a dress suitable for church that would go with a purple necklace and earrings.

The Fisk family had a eventful weekend, as yesterday was graduation.  I officially became “Dr. Fisk” during the hooding ceremony.  Arina attended for the hour-long event and did beautifully, until I was walking off the stage, and she couldn’t resist yelling, “Mommy!  Hat!”  She thought the graduation hat and doctoral hood (which hung down my back) were especially funny.  When I asked if she wanted to wear my cap, she laughed and said, “No!”  Not her style, I suppose.  We’re working on “No ma’am,” but so far, the best we’ve been able to do is a very Jamaican-sounding, “No man.” 

Although this photo is sans Arina, I had to include a graduation photo with my dissertation director, Dr. Feldman, in honor of ten years of higher education (six years at C of C for my B.A. and M.A. and four years at USC for my Ph.D.). 

What in the world am I going to do now?  This is the first time since I was six years old that I haven’t been a student.  Maybe I should get another degree? 

Scott says “No,” and that it’s time for a JOB.

Although I’m writing this two days after the promised posting date, I have strict instructions from Scott not to apologize.  I thought he was telling me not to apologize because I actually have a good excuse for not being on top of things this month.  (I’ve been preoccupied with my dissertation, which I successfully defended yesterday!).  Then, Scott confessed that he thinks my apologizing is just getting “too repetitive” — not that he’s not proud of me.  He’s been teaching Arina to say “Dr. Mommy.”

Despite the fact that I’ve been a hard-working Mom for the past month, Arina has had great fun in both Charleston and Columbia.  She enjoyed her second trip to the beach, beautiful Kiawah Island, so we owe Dr. Feldman, Peter, and Konrad a special “thank you” for hosting us.  The only thing we were worried about was leaving Arina’s favorite toy, tur-tle, behind in Columbia.  Luckily, Peter had inflated a special beach toy that we’ve dubbed “Tur-tle’s beach cousin.”  Arina was thrilled!  We rode bikes, enjoyed a St. Patrick’s Day party, and Arina flirted with Konrad the entire weekend.

We were able to stop by Scott’s parents’ house before heading back to Columbia.  Arina’s Aunt Susie, Uncle Steve, and cousin Lauren were visiting from Texas, so she was able to spend time with all of the Fisk family cousins, including new baby Parker Owens!  The girls, Marly and Lauren, had dyed Easter eggs the day before and had made a special egg for Arina.  She hunted eggs for the first time at MeMa’s and PaPa’s house, and although she had never hunted eggs before, she knew exactly what to do.  We handed her a basket, she saw an egg, and in it went!  The only problem was making her give us her eggs so that we could hide them again.  She has definitely learned the word “Mine.”

In Columbia, Arina dyed eggs with her “Aunts” — Nat, DC, and Ra Ra.  There are lots of great photos in the gallery, courtesy of Tracy (better known as DC).  The girls said that “yellow” was, by far, Arina’s favorite color.  Arina also got to meet Nat’s mom, Mrs. Leppard, who gave her her first “Easter basket” full of goodies — bracelots, candy, crayons, candy, bubbles, candy, a whistle, candy, a purse, candy, an adorable flower headband – and did I say, candy?  Mrs. Leppard and Jordan have officially become Arina’s favorite people because they understand what two-and-a-half-year-olds need.

Also, Arina’s friend from Kazakhstan, Dawson, visited this month.  Garrett, Dee Dee, Arina, and Scott went to the zoo while Mom stayed home and worked on her dissertation.  Sigh.

And, finally, Arina’s first Easter was . . . messy.  On the Saturday night before Easter Sunday, Arina got sick.  Arina threw up, and I’ve learned that I don’t do well with vomit.  Dirty diapers, I can handle.  Vomit, not so much.  When Scott asked me how he should “clean it up,” as it was on both the pillow and sheets in her crib, I said, “Just throw everything out.  I’ll get new ones.”  I couldn’t say that about Arina, though, and had to get the throw-up off her face and out of her eyelashes.  Don’t ask me how she managed to get throw-up in her eyelashes.  Bleh.

I’m glad I had read literature about children adopted from orphanages because I wasn’t surprised when Arina didn’t let us know that she had gotten sick.  She neither cried nor called out.  Thank goodness Scott went to check on her before going to bed that night.  The poor sick baby had crawled to the other end of the crib, and, seeing Scott, pointed at the throw-up and simply said “Sick.”  Apparently, children who have grown up in an orphanage (even a Baby House as wonderful as Malutka) know to stay in their cribs and have learned that crying makes little difference in how fast a caregiver can move when she has so many children under her care.

On Easter Sunday, she seemed fine, until we got back from church, and she crashed.  She was still a bit under-the-weather, although she enjoyed wearing her “Rella” (Cinderella) dress, complete with hat, gloves, pearls, and purse. 

Yes, I’m a day late again.  But, I have good reason, as I’m desperately trying to finish my dissertation this semester.  And I think finishing is in my reach, thanks to my wonderful friends who baby-sit, for free no less!, whenever I need them.  It is fitting, therefore, that this month’s photos feature several of these friends. 

This has been an exciting month for Arina, as she has started attending “school” three days a week, where she gets to play with other two-and-a-half year olds.  She loves school, unless she has been baby-sat by DC (Tracy), Nat (Natalie), and Ra Ra (Rachel) the night before.  If she has been baby-sat the night before and I say “Yay!  School!” the next morning, she pouts and says “No!  DC, Nat, Ra Ra.”

Arina’s “Uncle Joel” (Aunt Nat’s boyfriend) visited this month, and with Uncle Joel, comes big presents.  Arina is now the proud owner of a three foot (maybe five foot?) turtle.  As soon as she saw it, she squealed “tur-tle” and tried to carry it to the living room; this was extremely entertaining as one of the turtle’s feet is as big as her head.  She loves her tur-tle so much that she attacked J.D. whenever he neared it, shouting “My tur-tle!”  Joel proudly says that, in one visit, he taught the Russian baby girl all about capitalism.

Life with Arina and tur-tle has been interesting.  She doesn’t understand why he can’t sleep in the crib with her, sit at the breakfast table while she eats, and make his way up and downstairs as often as she does.  A new bedtime ritual is “tucking tur-tle in,” as this is the only way she’ll go to sleep without him.

As if meeting tur-tle wasn’t exciting enough, Arina also got to meet her “Aunt” Stacey, visiting from New Mexico.  Stacey spent the night, read Arina Goodnight Moon before bed, and is responsible for nearly all the photos in this month’s photo gallery!  We love you, CC!

We don’t have many photos in our gallery this month, which I regret because I can’t believe how rapidly Arina is growing!  She’s still small for her age, but we think she’s going to be much taller than her “Mama.”  She’s long-waisted (yes, I’m envious) but nearly impossible to clothe.  Pants fit her fine in the waist, or are even too big, yet much too short.  Oh well, when I’m looking up to her one day, I can say that she takes after her “Papa.”

She had a great weekend, as she got to go to Nathan Ridgeway’s birthday party at Palmetto Amusements.  (Papa took her so that Mama could work on her dissertation).  Her favorite activities, according to Scott, included riding the pony, playing in the “jump castle,” and eating hotdogs and cake — in short, she enjoyed everything, as usual.

She’s almost officially two and a half (or will be on the 19th of February) and has been learning new words and songs everyday.  My favorite new word is “sorry,” pronounced “so-wy.”  I feel like a bad mother because I make her say it all the time, simply because I think it’s so cute.  Her favorite song is “Tomorrow” from Annie, and she treats my USC girlfriends to a rendition every time they come over.  A close second is “Tuppence” from Mary Poppins although she seems to think that the chorus is ”Poppins, Poppins, Poppins a bag.” 

Who knew that children could be so funny?  Scott has had several ideas for America’s Funniest, the latest being a little routine Arina does whenever we discuss Mr. Knightley’s behavior.  Lately Knightley, or “Nu-nu” as Arina calls him, has been her nemesis, stealing her food and stuffed animals every chance he gets, and she has dubbed him “Bad boy.”  Scott tries to break her from this, and the conversation goes as follows.

Scott: Arina, Knightley’s a “Good boy.”

Arina: “Bad boy.” 

Scott: Can you say “good”?

Arina: “Good.”

Scott: Can you say “boy”?

Arina: “Boy.”

Scott: Knightley’s a “Good boy!”

Arina: “Bad boy.”

Yes, I’m a day late.  Today’s my birthday, though, and Mom is keeping Arina (and the dogs) so that Scott and I can go out.  But, since the house is so clean and so quiet, we’ve decided to stay in.  Scott cooked a fantastic dinner for me, and now I can spend more time on my post, which is an important one as it’s a recap of Arina’s first Christmas!

We kicked off the season with a Fisk family tradition, making Christmas cookies at Kelly’s house in Charleston.  Arina enjoyed playing with her cousin, Marly, and her cousin’s friends.  After awhile, Arina and Marly took off, leaving Scott to finish cutting the cookie dough.  Arina returned to decorate the cookies with icing and sprinkles, or to eat icing and sprinkles with Aunt Kelly while Scott decorated the cookies.

We spent Christmas Eve at MaMa Shirley’s house, and Arina was especially excited to see Pop in a Santa Claus hat.  She’d look at him, laugh, and say “Ho, ho, ho!”  She helped me hand out presents to everyone, and it was interesting to see her opening hers.  We’ve always torn into our presents, opening one right after another.  Arina, however, would open one, say “Wow!,” and sit down to play with it.  It was like pulling teeth to get her to leave the first to open the second.  Eventually, though, she got the hang of it.

On Christmas Day, we had lunch at MaMa Shirley’s.  While MaMa cooked in her kitchen, Arina “cooked” in hers, a special gift from her great-grandmother. 

We celebrated Christmas again at the Fisks on December 31st, and Arina got to play with both of her cousins, Marly and Lauren.  They all got scooters from their MeMa and PaPa and enjoyed trying them out after lunch.  Unfortunately, Scott forgot his camara for the Fisk family Christmas, so we will have to get some photos from Kelly or Susan and add them to the gallery.

Happy New Year to all!

Since my last post, Arina has attended her great-great-grandmother’s 90th birthday party and has experienced her first Thanksgiving dinner at MaMa Shirley’s.  She has also joined Trenholm Road United Methodist Church, along with her Mama and Papa, and was christened the Sunday after Thanksgiving, on the 26th.  We chose this date on purpose; we’re so thankful she has become a part of our family.

I have to admit that I was especially worried about her behavior on Christening Day, as she’s going through a “defiant” phase and has become quite fond of “No, no, no!” and “Stop it!”  I cringed at the thought of her saying this to the pastor as he sprinkled her with water, which is why, perhaps, most parents have their children christened when they’re only a few months old. 

Happily, my fears proved groundless.  She was mesmerized by the ceremony and, afterwards, when the pastor walked her by the family pew, she gave everyone (MaMa Shirley, Nana, Pop, MeMa, PaPa, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Danny, and Marly) a big thumbs up.  Then, when the pastor turned with her to face the congregation and introduced her to her “new church family,” she gave them a big thumbs up as well and left the “stage” blowing kisses to all.  Needless to say, she was a big hit.

I think her “Auntie” Rachel summed up her personality best when she said, “Arina wonders in her little baby mind, ‘WHY am I not a Hollywood star yet?’”

This month’s featured photo is of Arina in her christening bonnet.  Thanks, again, to Shannon Osborne (SAO Photography).

Well, I’ve been scolded by several people for not having updated sooner, but when you see all the photos in the gallery that I had to sort through, resize, and post, you’ll understand why.  There’s quite a bit of work that goes along with these postings, thank you very much.

October and November have been the months of ”firsts.”  Arina spent the night for the first time with Grandma and Grandpa Fisk (otherwise known as MeMa and PaPa) on October 21st.  She had a wonderful time playing with her cousin (Marly), sampling MeMa’s cooking, and kicking back and watching tv with her PaPa.  The featured photo from this weekend is of Arina’s arrival, with suitcase, Marly, and Aunt Kelly in tow.

The next Saturday, the 28th, was a busy one.  Arina attended her first parade (Grandpa Plyler, otherwise known as “Pop,” rode in the parade, much to Arina’s delight), her first pumpkin festival, and her first rodeo.  At the festival, she rode in a horse-drawn carriage and was told to select her very own pumpkin.  She walked straight to the biggest one, of course, and clued us into her choice by “hugging” it.  The rodeo was, perhaps, the biggest hit, as Arina got to ride a pony.  Papa walked behind her and everytime she passed the rest of us (Mama, Grandma Plyler (otherwise known as “Nana”), and Pop), she pointed excitedly to the pony, as if saying, “Look what I’m on!  Can you believe it?”  Alas, we forgot the camera for the rodeo, although we remembered it for the festival, hence the following shot of Arina and her prized pumpkin.

October 31st was, obviously, Arina’s first Halloween.  As I mentioned in last month’s post, Arina chose her “scary dragon” costume and broke it in many times before Halloween.  She insisted on trying on her costume and practicing her “Grrr” for both sets of grandparents, her cousins Lauren and Marly, and her Columbia “aunties.”  She misunderstood the concept of Halloween, thinking that the “treat” part was getting to be a scary dragon.  Imagine her delight when strangers were willing to give her candy too.  She, no doubt, thought that they were rewarding her for saying “Grr” and became more and more theatrical.  By the end of the night, she was crawling on all fours, rushing into houses before we could stop her, screaming “Grr” at the top of her lungs, and laughing hysterically.  At least, she blew everyone a kiss as she was leaving.  I let her gorge herself on candy that night until I felt like a bad mom, at which point I made her stop.

This past weekend was, perhaps, the most exciting of all as Arina got her first glimpse of the ocean.  Although she seemed unsure at first, she was soon jumping, fully clothed, into the water and playing in the biggest “sandbox” she had ever seen.  Needless to say, she had a wonderful time.  Dr. Feldman, who graciously hosted us, remembered Arina’s fondness for shovels and supplied her with an extra large one.  Thankfully, no one was hit on the head. 

She got to experience Kiawah island in style, first on a bike and then in a kayak.  You would think she had been raised around bikes and kayaks, as she was perfectly comfortable with both.  Other ”firsts” in a wonderfully packed weekend included her first concert (the American Music Festival, a yearly Kiawah Island event), her first lesson on the electric guitar, and her first pancakes.

A special thanks to Dr. Feldman, Peter, and Konrad for a truly unforgettable weekend.